Seychelles: Mahe – Takamaka Rum Distillery

Takamaka Rum is served everywhere in Seychelles, it is locally produced and supposedly ultra premium quality. During the tour you will be told how it’s produced in small batches, using traditional methods, using only locally grown sugar cane that absorbs all the local soil terroir flavors, and so on and so forth. During the tasting you can either opt for five flavored rums (which is just fresh distillate with fruit liqueurs) or three aged premium rums. But even then it’s a gimmick – two of the three aged rums are actually only 60 days aged and both are simply colored with caramel and spices to look dark. The third one is a blend of 2 year old Seychelles rum and imported cheaper Jamaican rum (and not the best one). Having sampled and tried a lot of premium rums in the Caribbean, Central and South Americas, and French Polynesia – Takamaka is really not that great, rather rough and sharp and not aged. It’s just a very good marketing ploy aimed at being exclusive and from Seychelles, which a lot of tourists fall through (and not just with rum).